Nightmares
by Mistyblackheart
Summary: Avalon is a normal girl from 'our world' who dies and is taken to IZ world for a second chance at life. Suckish summery. Eventual Zimxoc maybe some Dibxoc


A/N: Hey my darlings! I'm back (in black!) and here with yet another story in the world of ZIM! *cough cough* anyway. I'm also working an a few other stories (if you haven't noticed my what three new stories now? Four? I can't even remember anymore.) so feel free to them out!

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"I don't see why you still watch those cartoons Avalon! You're 18!" Amy yelled. I sighed and rolled my eyes at my older sister.

"Because I like them that's why." I said crossing my arms over my stomach and staring at Amy blankly.

"But you're 18! You should be-"

"What? Going out to college parties and acting like an idiot? That's your thing Amy, not mine." Amy's face twisted into an ugly angry look reminding me of one of those wrinkly dogs with flat faces. I felt myself smile a bit at the thought.  
'A dog with make-up and blond hair.' I thought suppressing a giggle. Amy stomped over to the door of my bedroom, placing her hand on the handle and flinging the door open. She turned back towards me.

"You need to start acting your age Avalon. You're not a kid anymore. Grow up!"

"I'm not the one throwing a temper tantrum." I said plainly. She yelled something at the top of her lungs and stomped out of the room slamming the door behind her, then stomping out the house, slamming the front door. I sighed and uncrossed my arms, my heart still beating like a hummingbirds wings.

"Finally I thought she'd never leave." I mumbled to myself staring at the door as if she would walk through it again to tell me to grow up again. Yes I admit, my liking of cartoons and comic books is a bit childish, but it makes me happy and that's all the matters right? Or is that not what matters in our world anymore?

My sister Amy is 23 years old, going to some university and jobless. She is one of those lucky bitches who get a free education for some cheerleading thing. Or was it dance? I can't remember, one of the two. But anyway since she doesn't have to pay for anything, she doesn't have to work. Good for her I suppose. Amy is tall, blond, perfect body, perfect face and is a total child. Or maybe that's just how I see her. With her drunken temper tantrums, her going out partying almost every night and bringing home a new fuck buddy, I think most would agree with me. Or maybe they wouldn't. You never know with people then there's me. Where Amy has my mother's fair beauty, I got my father's dull appearance. My hair is a dark brown that curled in loose curls down to my shoulders, and my eyes are a dull blue-grey. Amy has beautiful sun-kissed skin and I look like I haven't seen the sun in months. Super-pale skin like that isn't attractive to most people, but I blame genetics. Amy was blessed with my mother's curves and I got cursed with my father's thin frame and had virtually no curves compared to Amy. But not everybody can have a 38-22-38 figure either like Amy and my mother. I won't say I'm ugly exactly, but I am very bland. My face doesn't hold anything that most people would consider to be beautiful, but it doesn't hold anything ugly either. Then theres Amy with her bright blue eyes, amazing facial structure, and lips most woman would kill to have.

I sighed and sat down in front of my computer pressing the power button. The wind tore through the trees outside my window causing the branches to bang and scratch at the glass. When the computer finished starting up I went on the internet and started checking for any updates on some of the fanfics I was reading. Not seeing any, I checked the activity on my stories. I read and replied to some reviews, then opened up Word and started working on my stories.

It started to rain softly at first, and then it started to downpour causing a steady drumming on my window and on the roof. I got up and cracked open my window letting in some of the air into my room, filling it with the scent of rain, pine and moist dirt. I returned to my computer and finished writing the new couple chapters of my story. For the few hours I wondered on the interwebs. Looking up new belly dance move videos, new music, watched a couple cartoons then read some more fanfiction. I glanced at the corner of the screen at the clock.

"Let's see it's Friday so Amy won't be home until at least 3 in the morning." I told myself, calculating how much time of peace and quiet I had left. Thunder rolled through the sky making me jump and have a mini heart attack. I let out a slow breath and looked out my window. Black clouds covered every inch of the sky swirling around like a giant serpent coiled around itself. Thunder boomed in those dark clouds, followed by lightening streaking the dark sky with light. The rain had came into my room through my window and soaked the window seal and the carpet in front of the window. I grabbed my towel off of the back of my computer chair and placed it on the wet carpet and closed the window which was allowing in the cold moist air into my otherwise warm room.

I let out a tired sigh and wiped my rain covered hands on my jeans, looking around the room for something else to do for entertainment. My eyes fell upon my Invader Zim DVDs that my dad bought me for my 13th birthday. I smiled a bit, remembering my mother and sister telling my dad that 13 was too old to watch cartoons when we were at the store and I asked if they would buy me the DVDs. My father disagreed and got them for me anyway, I think to spite them, but also because he knew that I loved them. He even gave me his TV and DVD player from his office just so I could watch the cartoons without getting yelled at by my mother or Amy.

I shook my head still smiling at the memory and grabbed the DVDs putting in the first disk into the DVD player and turning on my TV. I plopped myself down on my bed and patiently waited for all of the commercials finish before pressing PLAY and sitting back, resting my back against my mountain of pillows and stretching my legs out before crossing my ankles. The theme song started to play and I grinned humming with it, feeling like a kid again. That is why I like cartoons, they remind me of a time when things weren't complicated and so full of stresses.

"But Invader's blood marches through my veins like GIANT RADIOACTIVE RUBBER PANTS! The pants command me! Do not ignore my veins!" I quoted grinning. My favorite line in the entire episode. I giggled to myself at my silliness and went back to watching the episode. Just as luck may have it the power went out, leaving me in darkness. I cursed, grabbed my flashlight that I stashed under my pillow, turned it on, climbed out of bed, walked out of my room and made my way downstairs. I went into the garage and checked the power box grumbling to myself. After a couple minutes of fiddling with the switches I got the power to come on again, slammed the power box door closed and marched back inside, shivering from the cold that collected in the garage.

As I made my way up the stairs Amy stumbled in to the house, her face red, hair messed up and a bottle of what looked to be whiskey in her palm. I paused and watched her try to get her heeled shoes off by the door, wondering to myself why she was home so early. Amy stood up straight and glared at me, her eyes were blood-shot, and puffy like she had been crying on her way home.

"What do you want?" she snapped stumbling towards the foot of the stairs to go up to her room.

"Why are you home so early?" I asked simply, studying her face. Her make-up had smeared here and there and now that I had a better view of her face I knew she had been crying, her eyeliner left dark streaks on her cheeks and her eyeslashes were still wet with tears. Amy placed a hand on the wall to balance herself and glared at me.

"None of your business! Now go play with your toys or something!" she slurred taking another long swig of her drink. I shrugged and went back up to my room, locking the door behind me. Amy was on the phone with someone, talking loud enough that her voice echoed throughout the mostly empty house. I let out a small sigh, crawled into my bed, turning on the TV and DVD player again and resuming my cartoon, trying to block out my thoughts and Amy's voice in the background.

After a few episodes I glanced at the clock on my desk which read 2:30 AM in bright red. I let out a tired sigh and turned the TV and DVD player off, then crawled under my blankets and nuzzled down in my bed. The house was quiet except for the storm that was still going on outside. I watched the rain fall outside my window until I couldn't keep my eyes open.

I woke up the next morning to the sounds of the front door openning and slamming shut, then some shuffling around. "They must still be asleep." my mother's high pitched voice echoed throughout the house. I heard my father's voice also, but I couldn't make out what he said. I groaned as I pushed myself up into a sitting position, kicked away my pile of blankets and climbed out of bed. My hair was probably a mess and I know I looked like the walking dead... more so than usual, but I wanted to see my Dad. As I openned my door I could hear my mother starting to growl at my Dad about something.

"I can't believe you got that for her David! She's 18 not 12! She should be getting something any normal adult would want." 'Oh great... they're talking about me.' I thought frowning. 'Maybe I shouldn't go see them yet?'

"But Ava isn't a normal girl is she?" my Dad said, I could tell by his tone he was smiling, possibly amused at my Mother's attempt to

"normalize" me.

"But she should be. Maybe if she actually had friends who didn't worship all that childish nonsense she'll actually grow up some. And you with giving her toys aren't helping!" I rolled my eyes, but stayed where I was. My Dad chuckled.

"If she's happy why does it matter? I give her things like this because she likes them and they make her happy." I smiled, getting that warm feeling in my stomach. I loved my Dad, he was one of the few people who didn't care that I'm a bit childish as long as I was happy. My mother let out a heavy sigh and set something metal on the marble counter.

"Fine. Whatever. If you want our daughter to continue being stuck at the age of 12 go right ahead! I'm trying to help her become an adult, but you don't seem to care about that!" Mom started rumbling on in a harsh whisper and walking towards the end of the house. I heard my Dad sigh heavily after my mother left and I took that as a sign that I could come down from my room to see him. Also I was itching to know what he got me from his trip.

I came down the stairs and turned into the kitchen, my Dad was leaning on the kitchen island with his back towards me. He was bent over some paperwork and had his Bugs Bunny mug of coffee near him. I smiled as I walked into the kitchen my bare feet making little pit-patting noises on the cool tile.

"Hey Dad. How was your trip?" I asked circling around the island so he could see me. My dad stood up and opened his arms towards me giving me a big bright smile.

"Avalon!" he said happily pulling me into a tight hug. I pulled out of the hug and looked up at him smiling.

"You didn't answer my question: how was your trip?" I repeated smiling as I stepped back out of my Dad's warm embrace. He laughed quietly and picked up his cup of coffee.

"Good good. The lab finally got funding for our next project." he said happily then taking a drink of his coffee. I leaned on the counter and looked at the pile of paperwork my Dad was going over. I pointed to the papers with my purple nail-polished index finger.

"Is this all the paperwork for it?" I asked seeing my Dad's lab name plastered to the top of the page. He nodded setting the mug down and ran a hand through his short dark brown wavy hair. 'Ah he's stressed' I thought picking up on his gesture and seeing the lines he usually gets on his forehead and near his mouth appear when he stressed out form on his face.

"Yeah for now. We're supposed to be getting started on the project within a month, but the company funding us is being difficult." he said leaning over the papers again and starting to fill in the blanks. I tilted my head to the side.

"Difficult how?" I asked watching my Dad's face get dark as he stared at the paper, then he looked up and smiled brightly at me.

"Oh just legal stuff, don't worry about it! We got the funding so now we can get started on the project!" he said then straightening up again.

"I got you something also. Your mom wasn't happy about it, but I got it for you anyway." he said walking past me and grabbing something off of the counter near the sink and put it behind his back as he turned back to face me. I narrowed my eyes at him and stuck my hands out in a "gimme gimme" gesture.

"Ohh gimme!" I said excitedly. Dad smiled, his blue-grey eyes sparkling in amusement at my gesture.

"Close your eyes first." he said winking. I shut my eyes tightly, but kept my hands out palms up. He chuckled and placed something in my hands. It was metal I knew that much, and it was cold to the touch. It was also kind of heavy for whatever it was.

"Ok open." my Dad said. I snapped my eyes opened and was staring at a Gir robot! It was about a foot tall sitting down. The metal looked to be of good quality and the eyes, chest plate and shoulder joints were thick glass with what looked to be some lights and heavy duty wiring through it.

"I love it!" I squealed hugging the Gir robot to my chest and looking up at my Dad. He laughed and held out his hand for me to give back the robot.

"Wait for it you'll love it even more." he said as I handed him the Gir back. He set it on the counter and gave me a wink.

"Gir!" he said loudly in his best impression of Zim. After a moment the familiar hum of mechanics echoed through the kitchen and the lights of the robot light up in blue. The head lifted up and "looked" around.

"Gir. Reporting for duty!" it said putting it's arm up in a salute. I gasped and then squealed happily.

"I love it even more! Thank you Dad!" I squealed giving my Dad a tight hug and squeezing the air out of his lungs. He laughed once he could breathe and patted my hair affectionately.

"Now there's one thing you have to promise me if you want to keep it." I frowned.

"What?" My Dad smiled, picked up the Gir and handed to me.

"Enjoy it. And keep it out of sight of your mother. You know how she is." he said with a wink. I grinned and hugged the Gir to my chest.

"Ok I'll go put Gir in my room and then come back down to talk 'k?" I asked. My Dad grinned and nodded, then turned back to his paperwork.

"Ok, I'll be here." I smiled and rushed up to my room and set the Gir on my desk next to my computer. I smiled at it and noticed it was still activated.

"Hey Dad? How do I turn Gir off?" I yelled, then cringing as I remembered it was early in the morning. I heard my Dad chuckle.

"Say: Gir sleep mode." Dad called back much quieter. I said a silent 'oohh' and looked back at the Gir. I grinned.

"Gir Sleep Mode!" I said. The Gir looked up then the lights turned off, and shortly afterward the low humming of mechanics was silenced. I squealed and clapped my hands happily then turned on my heel and sped back down to the kitchen, slowing down just before I hit the tile. I didn't feel like floor-surfing this early in the morning and potentially harming myself...Again. Been there. Done that. Got the stitches. Not doing that again.

Dad had moved from the island to the kitchen table and had his back towards the window. I went over to the coffee pot and grabbed a mug with Mickey Mouse on it and filled up the mug with coffee. Then scampering to the fridge and getting my sugary creamer. After I made my coffee to my liking I went over to the table and sat next to my Dad and watched him fill out the papers, mostly just watching his hand write the words on the forms.

"So what is your new project if I may ask? Or is it super top secret?" I asked then taking a drink of my coffee. My Dad kept his eyes on the paper as he copied information from one form to the other.

"We're working on a dimensional scope of sorts. The people who funded this project is really into that sort of stuff." he said, then setting down the pen and rubbing his face with his hands. I frowned.

"It's really stressing you out huh?" I asked, getting concerned. Whenever Dad gets stressed out this much he has a tendency to get really sick. Mom swears he'll stress himself to death one of these days. I shook those thoughts from my mind and went back to watching my Dad.

"Yeah, but I'll be ok once I get these papers filled and sent out." he said folding his hands and resting his mouth on his knuckles. I nodded slowly and stared at my coffee.

"Ok just don't make yourself sick over it all ok?" I said standing up and head heading back to my room. I sighed and glanced around my small room, the sun had started flooding in through my window and gave everything a slight golden glow, with is very odd looking concidering my walls are lavender colored. I wanted to paint my room a dark purple, but Mom threw a fit. So Lavender it was. Better just deal with a lighter shade of my favorite color than listen to my mother bitch nonstop for god knows how long. I settled myself down in my computer chair and set my coffee cup next to Gir. I smiled at the little robot then turned my attention to my computer. For a couple hours I wondered the internet mostly waiting for everybody to wake up so I could go do something other than hide in my room all day. At about 9:30 I decided to actually get dressed and find something to do, even if Amy and Mom were still asleep.I just wanted out of the house. After turning off my computer I got up, walked over to my closet, swung the doors open and stared blankly at my clothes in it.

"Well I might just go hiking, so I guess scummy clothes today." I told myself snatching a pair of old blue jeans, a purple long-sleeved shirt that had paint smeared all up the sleeves and on the tummy area of it, and my old hiking boots. I changed and dragged a brush through my hair and pulled it back in a ponytail. After getting all cleaned up and ready for my hike I went back down stairs. Dad had moved into the living room and was watching the news and still drinking coffee. He must have heard me coming down cause he looked up just as I came into the room.

"Hey where are you going?" he asked as I walked over to the couch next to him and grabbed my jacket.

"Hiking. I'll be back in a few hours. I have my phone if you need anything." I said then leaning over the back of the couch and giving my Dad a kiss on the cheek.

"Ok be safe, be back before dark" he said turning attention back to the TV.

"I know. Love you." I said before turning away and speed walking out of the house. The air still smelled strongly of rain, wet earth and Pine. I took some deep breaths taking in the cool clean air and wrapped my jacket around me tighter to block out some of cold. I headed down the driveway and the wet dirt road that led into town from our house. I mostly just wanted to wonder, get out of the house which most of the time felt more like a prison than a home. I shook my head and took a breath of cool mountain air, clearing my mind of such thoughts.

Getting into town took about 20 minutes. Ok 'town' for us is a local bar, a couple of restaurants, general store and a small doctor/vet clinic. If you really needed something you went to the city which was about a 2 hour drive weaving around the mountains to get to the valley. I smiled as I walked passed the small buildings in their old fashioned charm and headed towards the river.  
The sky looked as if it still promised heavy amounts of rain and the rain fell softly on me as I walked. I smiled enjoying the rain and put my face up towards the sky for a moment before continuing on. I walked along the road for a while until I could hear the rushing water of the river, then I followed a small well-used trail mostly hidden by the pine trees to the river.  
No one was at the river as far as I could see, but you never know. Sometimes people camp here or silly teenagers sneak out to here for whatever reason, probably to make-out or whatever they do. The river was about 50 feet wide, not real big for a river in my opinion, and I'm not sure how deep it was, but way too deep for my comfort. I glanced to my right where the river was flowing down the mountain, large boulders lined the river which I climbed as I followed the river down the mountain.

"Patient is 18 year old Avalon Mckennitt! She has major blood-loss and-" the voices zoned in and out as I opened my eyes. The ceiling was white, or was it grey? I'm not sure, but the lights kept moving and there were people in scrubs around me. My eyes became a bit more focused and a lady in teal blue scrubs looked down at me, helping push the bed through doors.

"Avalon can you hear me? You're in the hospital, do you remember what happened?" she asked quickly. I swallowed, my mouth felt like I had eaten sand. Then I finally forced out a small pathetic 'no.'

"You fell and have a bad concussion, some internal bleeding-" she listed off some things using words I didn't understand. 'I fell? How? Where?' I thought blinking my eyes hard. My skull felt like it was splitting in half and the right side of my ribs, my wrist and all down my left leg hurt. But dispite the splitting pain I couldn't feel anything. I looked over to my right and saw my Dad, he was holding my hand and talking to me. His face had deep lines of worry and his eyes held fear.

"You'll be fine Ava, I'm right here." he kept saying, each time sounding more unconvinced. Then he gave me a small sad smile.

"I love you baby girl." Then he let go of the bed and I entered a room with a bunch of lights of the ceiling along with tools and bags of clear and red liquid. I felt the world move then the coldness of the operating table under me. Everything was so out of focus and I heard voices, but didn't understand anything they were saying. Kind of like listening to something underneath water. I looked up at the ceiling again and my eyes blurred more and everything started darkening. As I closed my eyes all I could think was that I didn't want to die, I wanted to live. 'Please let me live.' I begged before slipping into unconsciousness.

"Well that's one way to die. Tragic really. All you wanted was to be free for a while and now look what happened. Humph. Pathetic." a voice growled. I blinked and realized I was still in the Operating room, but it was empty, everything cleaned and put away. I looked to my right and noticed a guy in a suit about 25 years old standing against one of the white walls. He had his arms crossed over his chest and an irritated scowl on his face.

"Well are you going to follow me or are you just going to keep staring at me like an idiot." he snapped. Ok I don't like this guy.

"Who are you?" I asked firmly then looking at the operating table. "And where is everybody?" I added. The boy sighed heavily, uncrossed his arms and walked over to the small metal table next to the operating table. Picking up a folder and handing it to me. I opened it and stared at my medical record then flipped the page.

"Avalon Diana Mckennitt, female, born: October 23rd, 1995. Died: June 14th, 2013. Cause of Death: blunt force trauma and internal bleeding." I read. I closed the folder and set it back on the table, staring blankly at the folder.

"So I'm dead?" I asked, my whole body shaking with shock. Well obviously not my physical body since I'm dead, but anyway the boy started clapping in a slow, condescending way. "Bravo! You finally figured it out!" I glared at the boy, his bright green eyes shining with amusement. "So who are you?" I asked, clenching my hands into tight fists. The boy smiled and did a deep sweeping bow. Much like how some of the drama kids at my high school did whenever they gave speeches in class or whatever. It was irritating.

"I am your Reaper, and have come to you to collect your soul." he paused standing up again. "Well actually I'm not here to collect your soul quite yet." he added with a small frown which almost looked like disappointment. I blinked at him and tilted my head to the side.

"Then why are you here?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest getting fed up with this 'Reaper'. He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair.

"You see my boss is giving you a second chance at life." he said. My heart beat increased. 'I can see Dad again?' He smirked and shook his head almost as though he knew what I was thinking. "Not in this life though. Your body is long gone, there's no fixing it. No the Great Divine is allowing you to live the rest of your life in another version of you." he explained, using some over dramatic hand gestures. Well I guess he did know what I was thinking, not creepy at all. I blinked at him and tilted my head to the side a bit more.

"Like in an alternate dimension?" I asked, my mind going back to a bunch of theories my Dad explained to me about the other dimensions. That there were an infinite number of them all side by side to this dimension and there where links between them all. The Reaper grinned.

"Yes exactly like that! Now come along now we can't keep the portals open forever you know!" he said then turning away from me and walking down a hallway that randomly appeared. I blinked and looked around the room, then after taking a deep breath I followed him. The hall was dark except for some light that came from somewhere down the hall. The Reaper's shoes clicked against the cold tile floor, followed by the pit-patting of my bare feet. I shivered.

"I thought you didn't feel anything after death." I said wrapping my arms around me and rubbing my arms with my hands to warm me up. The Reaper chuckled.

"Only if you're truly dead. You're kind of in limbo right now." he explained then turning down a hallway to the right and towards the light. I shook my head. "Death is confusing." I mumbled then looking back in front of me. The light was coming from an open hospital room door. The Reaper stopped and stepped to the side then gesturing with his gloved hand towards the door.

"Alright here we are. Now when you're done living and all that, just get yourself killed again and I'll come get you ok? Now go." he said with a smile on his smug little face. I glared at him and rolled my eyes.

"I hope I get a different Reaper next time, because you're horrible." I said taking a step towards the door. The Reaper laughed.

"You obviously haven't met any other Reapers then. Usually they'd just eat your soul and be on their way. I'm being nice and letting you have a second chance at living." he laughed. I rolled my eyes. "Only because your boss told you so."I mumbled and stuck my hand into the light. It felt warm and kind of tingly, kind of like when your arm falls asleep and you're just getting feeling in it again.  
The Reaper sighed impatiently and pushed me through the doorway. "I fucking hate that Reaper." I mumbled before my vision filled with light then darkness again.

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A/N: Here you go my loves! Review please!


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